SUP Sociology

SUP Sociology http://www.sup.org/rss/sociology.xml The latest titles from Stanford University Press en-us Copyright 2008 Stanford University Press webmaster@www.sup.org (Webmaster) Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race Race Migrations: Latinos and the Cultural Transformation of Race Wendy D. Roth "Roth's superb study transcends the existing literature on migration and race by demonstrating how concepts of race and ethnicity are continually refashioned in a transnational space. Migrants maintain, adopt, and strategically utilize different racial schemas in constant reference to both their countries of origin and settlement. All future studies of how race 'travels' will have to engage the analysis presented here."—Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley, co-author of Racial Formation in the United States "Anyone who believes that the American racial structure is characterized by unmovable white/black boundaries should read this book. Roth deftly analyzes the transformation of identification and categorization systems that have accompanied the accelerated immigration of Puerto Ricans and Dominicans in the United States, as well as the consolidation of a Latino identity on our shores and abroad. She parses out how new and different schemas are diffused at the micro level across classes. She also uses the tools of cultural sociology to significantly advance our understanding of the dynamics between ethnically and racially-based symbolic and social boundaries. The result is a dynamic and multidimensional analysis of processes of boundary work which should have a considerable impact on the field of immigration, race and ethnicity and on the study of transnationalism."—Michèle Lamont, Harvard University, author of The Dignity of Working Men: Morality and the Boundaries of Race, Class, and Immigration "Wendy Roth's Race Migrations is rich with insights about one of the great puzzles of contemporary immigration-the impacts of immigration on racial systems and of racial systems on immigrants. With scrupulous research and brisk writing, she traces the transportation and mutation of racial concepts in both directions between origin and destination societies."—Richard Alba, The Graduate Center CUNY, author of Blurring the Color Line "Wendy Roth has produced an important book on how Dominicans and Puerto Ricans transform their own understandings of race with immigration to the United States and, in the process, also transform American racial realities. In addition, our understanding of race as culture reaches a new level in Roth's insightful analysis."—Edward Telles, Princeton University, author of Race in Another America <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=16798">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> In this groundbreaking study of Puerto Rican and Dominican migration to the United States, Wendy D. Roth explores the influence of migration on changing cultural conceptions of race—for the newcomers, for their host society, and for those who remain in the countries left behind. Just as migrants can gain new language proficiencies, they can pick up new understandings of race. But adopting an American idea about race does not mean abandoning earlier ideas. New racial schemas transfer across borders and cultures spread between sending and host countries. Behind many current debates on immigration is the question of how Latinos will integrate and where they fit into the U.S. racial structure. Race Migrations shows that these migrants increasingly see themselves as a Latino racial group. Although U.S. race relations are becoming more "Latin Americanized" by the presence of Latinos and their views about race, race in the home countries is also becoming more "Americanized" through the cultural influence of those who go abroad. Ultimately, Roth shows that several systems of racial classification and stratification co-exist in each place, in the minds of individuals and in their shared cultural understandings of "how race works." Wendy Roth is Assistant Professor of Sociology at the University of British Columbia. She is coauthor of Rampage: The Social Roots of School Shootings (2004). http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=16798 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=16798 Improving Learning Environments: School Discipline and Student Achievement in Comparative Perspective Improving Learning Environments: School Discipline and Student Achievement in Comparative Perspective Edited by Richard Arum and Melissa Velez "Improving Learning Environments is a superb examination of the relationship between school discipline and educational achievement, carried out cooperatively by distinguished scholars who investigate countries on which they are leading authorities. It's a must read for scholars and school reformers alike."—Stephen L. Morgan, Cornell University "This state-of-the-art work addresses the important question of the extent to which school disciplinary environments shape educational outcomes. This new volume will provide policy makers with a much needed empirical basis for the development of effective policies."—Meir Yaish, University of Haifa <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=20158">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> Improving Learning Environments provides the first systematic comparative cross-national study of school disciplinary climates. In this volume, leading international social science researchers explore nine national case studies to identify the institutional determinants of variation in school discipline, the possible links between school environments and student achievement, as well as the implications of these findings for understanding social inequality. As the book demonstrates, a better understanding of school discipline is essential to the formation of effective educational policies. Ultimately, to improve a school's ability to contribute to youth socialization and student internalization of positive social norms and values, any changes in school discipline must not only be responsive to behavior problems but should also work to enhance the legitimacy and moral authority of school actors. Richard Arum is Professor of Sociology and Education at the Steinhardt School of Culture, Education, and Human Development at New York University. He is coauthor of Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses (2011). Melissa Velez is a Senior Analyst in the Social and Economic Policy Division at Abt Associates, Inc. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20158 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20158 Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice Race Decoded: The Genomic Fight for Social Justice Catherine Bliss "The ongoing debates about the role of race in biology, genetics, and clinical medicine have often produced more heat than light. Catherine Bliss takes us on a journey that is bound to illuminate an important and relatively unexplored feature of this phenomenon—the ways in which leading scientists in these fields compare in their thinking about (and use of) the concepts of race and ethnicity."—Troy Duster, New York University "With the mapping of the human genome, a heated and contentious debate has flared regarding the very concept of race and the extent and meaning of human variation. What is stunning and original about Bliss's account of this debate is her focus on the assumptions, values, and social consciousness of the scientists themselves. We see how researchers navigate different taxonomies of race and establish what often become contested policies, protocols, and practices. Through this account, Bliss provocatively captures the emergence of a new 'sociogenomic' paradigm of race."—Michael Omi, University of California, Berkeley <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=20299">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> In 2000, with the success of the Human Genome Project, scientists declared the death of race in biology and medicine. But within five years, many of these same scientists had reversed course and embarked upon a new hunt for the biological meaning of race. Drawing on personal interviews and life stories, Race Decoded takes us into the world of elite genome scientists—including Francis Collins, director of the NIH; Craig Venter, the first person to create a synthetic genome; and Spencer Wells, National Geographic Society explorer-in-residence, among others—to show how and why they are formulating new ways of thinking about race. In this original exploration, Catherine Bliss reveals a paradigm shift, both at the level of science and society, from colorblindness to racial consciousness. Scientists have been fighting older understandings of race in biology while simultaneously promoting a new grand-scale program of minority inclusion. In selecting research topics or considering research design, scientists routinely draw upon personal experience of race to push the public to think about race as a biosocial entity, and even those of the most privileged racial and social backgrounds incorporate identity politics in the scientific process. Though individual scientists may view their positions differently—whether as a black civil rights activist or a white bench scientist—all stakeholders in the scientific debates are drawing on memories of racial discrimination to fashion a science-based activism to fight for social justice. Catherine Bliss is Howard Hughes Postdoctoral Fellow in Biomedicine, Medical Humanities, and Science and Technology Studies at Brown University. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20299 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20299 The New Gilded Age: The Critical Inequality Debates of Our Time The New Gilded Age: The Critical Inequality Debates of Our Time Edited by David B. Grusky and Tamar Kricheli-Katz "Americans are no longer so tolerant of the widening gap between the CEO and the average worker, between the very top and the very bottom of the income distribution. The mobility dreams of generations are coming unglued as long term unemployment deepens, threatening to scar young workers in ways that may follow them the rest of their days. The New Gilded Age assembles the very best scholars in economics, sociology, and political science to assess what these conditions mean for ordinary people and how the 'great awakening' to the threat that inequality poses could reshape the landscape of public opinion and, perhaps ultimately, public policy. It is an essential volume for scholars and citizens worried about the direction we are headed and the cost we will pay for inaction on the inequality front."—Katherine Newman, Johns Hopkins University, coauthor of Taxing the Poor: Doing Damage to the Truly Disadvantaged "Americans have finally awakened to the realities of The New Gilded Age. Those looking for answers to questions about the new inequality will find them in this trenchant book edited by David Grusky and Tamar Kricheli-Katz, who have brought together eminent thinkers to address the moral, political, and social problems stemming from today's hyper-inequality. The result is an engaging and highly readable survey of critical issues that should be read by anyone who cares about the future of the American experiment in egalitarian democracy."—Douglas S. Massey, Princeton University "The New Gilded Age features incredibly insightful and timely debates between leading philosophers, economists, political scientists, and sociologists on the sources and future of inequality in the United States. This well written and accessible volume is a must-read not only for scholars, but for educated laymen and policymakers as well."—William Julius Wilson, Harvard University <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=6393">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> Income inequality is an increasingly pressing issue in the United States and around the world. This book explores five critical issues to introduce some of the key moral and empirical questions about income, gender, and racial inequality: • Do we have a moral obligation to eliminate poverty? • Is inequality a necessary evil that's the best way available to motivate economic action and increase total output? • Can we retain a meaningful democracy even when extreme inequality allows the rich to purchase political privilege? • Is the recent stalling out of long-term declines in gender inequality a historic reversal that presages a new gender order? • How are racial and ethnic inequalities likely to evolve as minority populations grow ever larger, as intermarriage increases, and as new forms of immigration unfold? Leading public intellectuals debate these questions in a no-holds-barred exploration of our New Gilded Age. David B. Grusky is Professor of Sociology at Stanford University and Director of the Stanford Center for the Study of Poverty and Inequality. He is coauthor of The Inequality Puzzle (2010) and coeditor of The Great Recession (2011) and The Inequality Reader (2011). Tamar Kricheli-Katz is Assistant Professor in the Buchman Faculty of Law and in the Department of Sociology and Anthropology at Tel Aviv University. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=6393 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=6393 Life Behind the Lobby: Indian American Motel Owners and the American Dream Life Behind the Lobby: Indian American Motel Owners and the American Dream Pawan Dhingra "Pawan Dhingra has written a pioneering book on the world of American motels and hotels. Close attention to the stories told by the people who work in the trade allows Dhingra to go behind the stereotypes, and give us a tale of human beings struggling to make livings and lives. This is a people's sociology of hotel work."—Vijay Prashad, Trinity College "Life Behind the Lobby assesses a central debate about U.S. migration: should the achievements of self-employed migrants be regarded as evidence of the openness, tolerance, and meritocracy of an increasingly neoliberal American society, or should their sacrifices, confrontations with racism, and feelings of social marginalization be taken as proof of the enduring place of discrimination, inequality, and white privilege? Pawan Dhingra's sophisticated and highly original analysis does much to advance our understanding of international migration, ethnic entrepreneurship, and migrants' ability to work collectively to cope with, if not fully overcome, the circumstances they face."—Steven J. Gold, Michigan State University, author of The Store in the Hood: A Century of Business and Conflict (2010) <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=12125">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> Indian Americans own about half of all the motels in the United States. Even more remarkable, most of these motel owners come from the same region in India and—although they are not all related—seventy percent of them share the surname of Patel. Most of these motel owners arrived in the United States with few resources and, broadly speaking, they are self-employed, self-sufficient immigrants who have become successful—they live the American dream. However, framing this group as embodying the American dream has profound implications. It perpetuates the idea of American exceptionalism—that this nation creates opportunities for newcomers unattainable elsewhere—and also downplays the inequalities of race, gender, culture, and globalization immmigrants continue to face. Despite their dominance in the motel industry, Indian American moteliers are concentrated in lower- and mid-budget markets. Life Behind the Lobby explains Indian Americans' simultaneous accomplishments and marginalization and takes a close look at their own role in sustaining that duality. Pawan Dhingra is Associate Professor of Sociology at Oberlin College and Museum Curator (2011–2013) at the Smithsonian Institution for HomeSpun: The Indian American Heritage Project. He is author of Managing Multicultural Lives: Asian American Professionals and the Challenge of Multiple Identities (Stanford, 2007). http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=12125 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=12125 The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance The Not-So-Special Interests: Interest Groups, Public Representation, and American Governance Matt Grossmann "In The Not-So-Special Interests, Matthew Grossmann sheds new light on one of the central questions in democratic theory and politics—who is represented? Skillfully combining information about the political attitudes and behavior of a wide range of social groups with original data about the organizations that claim to speak for them in Washington, he explains why some advocacy organizations succeed while others fail. His analyses offer new and often surprising insights about the sources and consequences of cumulative inequalities produced by interest group mobilization, power, and access."—Dara Z. Strolovitch, Associate Professor, University of Minnesota and author of Affirmative Advocacy: Race, Class, and Gender in Interest Group Politics "With new ideas, new perspectives, and new data, Matt Grossmann revisits an old idea. He offers a fresh view of how major societal interests promote their ideas, seek policy advantage, and fit within the overall mosaic of American political life. Drawing upon an impressive new dataset of 1,600 advocacy organizations, Grossmann lays out how pluralism can and does become institutionalized across many venues. The Not-So-Special Interests presents an important addition to how we understand the politics of faction in the United States."—Burdett Loomis, Professor, University of Kansas "Grossmann's work is a major contribution—breathtaking in its scope and innovative in its theories of American pluralism at the dawn of the twenty first century. The book should be read by everyone concerned about whose voices really count in Washington."—Kristin A. Goss, Assistant Professor of Public Policy and Political Science, Sanford School of Public Policy, Duke University "Offering an insightful explanation of why some interests are better represented than others, Matt Grossmann's The Not-So-Special Interests is destined to become one of the most important books on interest groups in this decade. His impressive collection and analysis of original data supports a conceptual framework rooted in the tradition of Truman but thoroughly modernized to engage contemporary questions. Not only does the book make a powerful argument, it's a pleasure to read as well."—McGee Young, Assistant Professor of Political Science, Marquette University <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=21766">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> "Lobbyist" tends to be used as a dirty word in politics. Indeed, during the 2008 presidential primary campaign, Hillary Clinton was derided for even suggesting that some lobbyists represent "real Americans." But although many popular commentators position interest groups as representatives of special—not "public"—interests, much organized advocacy is designed to advance public interests and ideas. Advocacy organizations—more than 1,600 of them—are now an important component of national political institutions. This book uses original data to explain why certain public groups, such as Jews, lawyers, and gun-owners, develop substantially more representation than others, and why certain organizations become the presumed spokespersons for these groups in government and media. In contrast to established theory and conventional wisdom, this book demonstrates that groups of all sizes and types generate advocates to speak on their behalf, though with varying levels of success. Matt Grossmann finds that the advantages of organized representation accrue to those public groups that are the most politically motivated and involved in their communities. Organizations that mobilize members and create a long-lasting presence in Washington become, in the minds of policymakers and reporters, the taken-for-granted surrogates for these public groups. In the face of perennial debates about the relative power of the people and the special interests, Grossmann offers an informed and nuanced view of the role of organizations in public representation and American governance. Matt Grossmann is Assistant Professor of Political Science at Michigan State University. He directs the Michigan Policy Network and is a coauthor of Campaigns & Elections: Rules, Reality, Strategy, Choice. More information on The Not-So-Special Interests and his other work can be found online at http://www.mattg.org. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=21766 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=21766 Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective Varieties of Feminism: German Gender Politics in Global Perspective Myra Marx Ferree "Breaking new ground in the study of comparative feminisms, this beautifully written and engaging book situates feminist activism in relation to changing gender regimes and gender orders within Germany, the US, the EU, and the UN system itself. Ferree's astute analyses of grassroots mobilizations, cultural production, NGOization, state feminism, gender mainstreaming, and supranational negotiation guarantee that this book will become a feminist classic."—Mary Hawkesworth, Rutgers University "Too often, American feminism is assumed to be a global norm, but in this excellent comparative work, Ferree reveals that this is not the case. The book explores a variety of women's movements across national settings and provides true insights into the promotion of women's rights in other countries. A tour de force!"—Amy G. Mazur, Washington State University "In light of her unmatched body of work on the comparative development of feminism in Germany and the U.S., I assumed that Ferree had exhausted her insights on the topic. I was wrong. In this extraordinary book, she pulls together, integrates, and provides historical context for her prior work. The result is not only the definitive book on the topic, but one of the very best books ever written on the comparative development of a movement."—Doug McAdam, Stanford University "Varieties of Feminism is both a magisterial history of the German women's movement and a provocative rethinking of feminism in its different national and global incarnations. Challenging the theoretical dominance of the U.S. model of feminism, Ferree brilliantly argues that developments in Germany provide a better guide to the future trajectory of women's struggles around the world."—Leila J. Rupp, University of California, Santa Barbara, author of Worlds of Women: The Making of an International Women's Movement "In telling the story of the institutionalization of gender politics in Germany over the past half century, Ferree provides rich theoretical insights for understanding the specific ways in which gender intersects with other inequalities in the United States and in numerous other countries as well."—William Gamson, Boston College "The history of the German women's movement is compelling in itself, but it is also an important demonstration of the errors of imagining feminism everywhere on the model of a dominant U.S. liberalism. National trajectories are varied, and gender issues woven in different ways into political, cultural, and personal histories. Ferree's story is one in which power relations slow progress, but also one in which incremental changes produce large results. And though focused on the past, it helps us see the openness of the future."—Craig Calhoun, New York University "Varieties of Feminism is a breathtakingly accomplished amalgam of feminist history, theory, and politics. With astute comparisons of German feminisms past and present and feminism in the United States and other European countries, Ferree interweaves theoretical and political analysis of liberal and socialist politics of gender to illuminate how feminist theory turns into practical action. This book is a major contribution to feminist scholarship."—Judith Lorber, author of Paradoxes of Gender and Breaking the Bowls: Degendering and Feminist Change "Ferree's work is a brilliant comparative and historical analysis of modern German feminisms. Her empirically rich and theoretically sophisticated account illuminates the diverse dilemmas and opportunities facing proponents of different varieties of feminism, in Germany and across the West, and in productive contrast to the US. The book offers an innovative approach to gender and politics that other scholars are sure to find compelling."—Ann Shola Orloff, Northwestern University "Myra Ferree's important study of German feminism emphasizes complexity, intersectionality, inconsistencies, and strategic concerns. One overarching message for readers is that feminism is various, set in institutional, transnational, discursive, and local specificities where the state is one of many actors. Because of the many vantage points from which she views the German feminist project, Ferree serves the study of feminism across the globe by offering a model for understanding its differences."—Bonnie Smith, Rutgers, The State University of New Jersey "Varieties of Feminism is a tour-de-force of social science and feminist theory. It is a masterful synthesis of Feree's long-standing engagement with German feminist politics. The book does a brilliant job drawing out the larger lessons of the German case-tracing the evolution of German feminist concerns and the ways they combined commitments to collective representation, self-determination, and personal autonomy. In the process, Feree provides the theoretical tools for analyzing the 'relational realism' of systems of gender as well as a vision of what feminist political struggle might look like in the future."—Lynne Haney, New York University "Varieties of Feminism is a brilliant analysis of feminist politics, with a special focus on Germany and powerful implications for the United States and other advanced industrial democracies. Myra Marx Ferree is at the forefront of the new political turn in gender scholarship."—Julia Adams, Yale University <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=12121">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> Varieties of Feminism investigates the development of German feminism by contrasting it with women's movements that arise in countries, like the United States, committed to liberalism. With both conservative Christian and social democratic principles framing the feminist discourses and movement goals, which in turn shape public policy gains, Germany provides a tantalizing case study of gender politics done differently. The German feminist trajectory reflects new political opportunities created first by national reunification and later, by European Union integration, as well as by historically established assumptions about social justice, family values, and state responsibility for the common good. Tracing the opportunities, constraints, and conflicts generated by using class struggle as the framework for gender mobilization—juxtaposing this with the liberal tradition where gender and race are more typically framed as similar—Ferree reveals how German feminists developed strategies and movement priorities quite different from those in the United States. Myra Marx Ferree is the Alice H. Cook Professor of Sociology at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her most recent books include Global Feminism: Transnational Women's Activism, Organizing, and Human Rights (2006) and Shaping Abortion Discourse: Democracy and the Public Sphere in Germany and the United States (2003). http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=12121 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=12121 East Asian National Identities: Common Roots and Chinese Exceptionalism East Asian National Identities: Common Roots and Chinese Exceptionalism Gilbert Rozman "The book is a very good overview of issues related to national identity in Japan, South Korea, and China. The six-dimensional analysis offers a novel approach to the study of national identity, and the comparative study should be commended."—Gi-Wook Shin, Director, Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=22029">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> This rigorous comparative study of national identity in Japan, South Korea, and China examines countries with long histories influenced by Confucian thought, surging nationalism, and far-reaching ambitions for regional importance. East Asian National Identities compares national identities in terms of six dimensions encompassing ideology; history; the salience of cultural, political, and economic factors; superiority as a model national community; displacement of the U.S. in Asia; and depth of national identity. Through this analysis, Gilbert Rozman draws the three countries together in an East Asian National Identity Syndrome. Other contributors review historical sources and critical themes of identity in all three countries. Contributors include professors of sociology, international relations, and political science in the United States, Japan, South Korea, and China. Gilbert Rozman is the Musgrave Professor of Sociology at Princeton University. He was a Fellow at the Woodrow Wilson Center in 2010-11. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=22029 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=22029 Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan Occupying Power: Sex Workers and Servicemen in Postwar Japan Sarah Kovner "Sarah Kovner has written a path-breaking work of Japanese history using a broad range of sources from Japanese, American, and British Commonwealth archives. This book will serve as the base line for studies in the history of sex work in postwar Japan for many years to come. Beyond that, it is an important study of women's history, sexuality, and military occupation in the twentieth century, and should be of interest to scholars in these fields worldwide."—William Johnston, Wesleyan University "Rich, theoretically-informed, and based on extensive archival research in several countries, Sarah Kovner's study sheds new light on a hitherto unexplored aspect of the Allied occupation of Japan—its sexual politics."—Vera Mackie, University of Wollongong, and author of Feminism in Modern Japan: Citizenship, Embodiment and Sexuality "This thorough and authoritative study enables the reader to gain a fresh understanding not only of the interactions between Japanese women and postwar occupying forces but also of the nation's view of itself at a time when Japan—despite its persistent reluctance to embrace interracial individuals—was concerned about its 'moral' standing in the international community."—Akira Iriye, Harvard University "Sarah Kovner has tackled a delicate subject with tact, thoughtfulness, and academic rigor. Her important book will be of great interest not just to specialists in Japanese history, but to anyone interested in the consequences of war, occupation, and indeed human relations across cultures."—Ian Buruma, Henry R. Luce Professor of Democracy, Human Rights, and Journalism, Bard College <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=21270">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> The year was 1945. Hundreds of thousands of Allied troops poured into war-torn Japan and spread throughout the country, altering both the built environment and the country's psychological landscape. The effect of this influx on the local population did not lessen in the years following the war's end. In fact, the presence of foreign servicemen also heightened the visibility of certain others, particularly panpan—streetwalkers—who were objects of their desire. Occupying Power shows how intimate histories and international relations are interconnected in ways scholars have only begun to explore. Although sex workers became symbols of Japan's diminished status, by earning scarce dollars they helped jump-start economic recovery. But sex workers who catered to servicemen were nonetheless a frequent target. They were blamed for increases in venereal disease. They were charged with diluting the Japanese race by producing mixed-race offspring. In 1956, Japan passed its first national law against prostitution. Though empowered female legislators had joined with conservatives in this effort to reform and rehabilitate, the law produced an unanticipated effect. By ending a centuries-old tradition of sex work regulation, it made sex workers less visible and more vulnerable. This probing history reveals an important but underexplored aspect of the Japanese occupation and its effect on gender and society. It seeks to shift the terms of debate on a number of controversies, including Japan's history of forced sexual slavery, rape accusations against U.S. servicemen, opposition to U.S. overseas bases, and sexual trafficking. Sarah Kovner is Assistant Professor of History and Asian Studies at the University of Florida. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=21270 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=21270 Chinese Chicago: Race, Transnational Migration, and Community Since 1870 Chinese Chicago: Race, Transnational Migration, and Community Since 1870 Huping Ling "A unique and valuable study, sure to deepen our understanding of extra-national migratory studies in the development of modernity."—John Kuo Wei Tchen, New York University & Museum of Chinese in America "Huping Ling, a prolific and leading scholar of Chinese America, gives us yet another refreshingly exciting book. An excellent community study, it offers fascinating stories about various aspects of Chinese America life in the community, ranging from food, laundry-shop work, school life, and family life in late nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Chicago. The book situates these stories in larger contexts, specially the Chinese American transnational world, providing extraordinary insights into the connection between the local and the global. It also connects the past to the present by taking an in-depth look at the post-war forces that have transformed and continue to transform Chinese Chicago."—Yong Chen, author of Chinese San Francisco, 1850-1943: A Trans-Pacific Community "An insightful interpretation of Chinese community as an integral part of a multiethnic Chicago, Ling's book is a landmark addition to the growing Chinese American transnational historiography."—Haiming Liu, author of The Transnational History of a Chinese Family <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=20872">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> Numerous studies have documented the transnational experiences and local activities of Chinese immigrants in California and New York in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Less is known about the vibrant Chinese American community that developed at the same time in Chicago. In this sweeping account, Huping Ling offers the first comprehensive history of Chinese in Chicago, beginning with the arrival of the pioneering Moy brothers in the 1870s and continuing to the present. Ling focuses on how race, transnational migration, and community have defined Chinese in Chicago. Drawing upon archival documents in English and Chinese, she charts how Chinese made a place for themselves among the multiethnic neighborhoods of Chicago, cultivating friendships with local authorities and consciously avoiding racial conflicts. Ling takes readers through the decades, exploring evolving family structures and relationships, the development of community organizations, and the operation of transnational businesses. She pays particular attention to the influential role of Chinese in Chicago's academic and intellectual communities and to the complex and conflicting relationships among today's more dispersed Chinese Americans in Chicago. Huping Ling is Professor of History at Truman State University and Executive Editor for the Journal of Asian American Studies. She has published eleven books and over one hundred articles. Most recently, she coedited Asian American History and Culture: An Encyclopedia (2010). http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20872 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20872 Broke: How Debt Bankrupts the Middle Class Broke: How Debt Bankrupts the Middle Class Edited by Katherine Porter "Going to college and buying a home used to be pathways to the middle class. Broke shows that for increasing numbers of Americans they are pathways to personal bankruptcy. This outstanding collection of essays documents the social costs of America's ongoing household debt crisis, and the many ways in which public policy has rigged the game against borrowers."—Isaac William Martin, University of California, San Diego, author of The Permanent Tax Revolt: How the Property Tax Transformed American Politics "For anyone tired of hype and rhetoric, at last a book that analyzes the growing effects of debt and bankruptcy on the middle class with rigor and data. Each chapter, crisply written and rich with analysis, lets readers draw their own conclusions." —John A. E. Pottow, University of Michigan Law School "An important collection on consumer finance that offers a troubling window on the financial stresses on the American middle class. Broke breaks new ground in exploring families in bankruptcy, examining the interaction of issues like race, mortgage debt, and student loan debt with the bankruptcy process."—Adam J. Levitin, Georgetown University Law Center "Too many American families are deep in debt because their wages haven't kept up, their jobs are vanishing, and their homes worth less and less. It's not only a human tragedy for them but also a national problem as their debt burden hobbles the American economy and their inability to repay cripples lenders. What should be done? Here's a useful and insightful guide to policies that can help."—Robert B. Reich, author of Aftershock: The Next Economy and America's Future "Risk and return are inseparable. While debt can enable families to buy homes, obtain education, and start businesses, it does so by amplifying both upturns and downturns. Broke clearly illustrates the consequences when overextended families experience the roller coaster ride leading to bankruptcy."—Peter Tufano, University of Oxford <center><a href="http://www.sup.org/book.cgi?id=20202">To buy this book or view bibliographic details, click here.</a></center> About 1.5 million households filed bankruptcy in the last year, making bankruptcy as common as college graduation and divorce. The recession has pushed more and more families into financial collapse—with unemployment, declines in retirement wealth, and falling house values destabilizing the American middle class. Broke explores the consequences of this unprecedented growth in consumer debt and shows how excessive borrowing undermines the prosperity of middle class America. While the recession that began in mid-2007 has widened the scope of the financial pain caused by overindebtedness, the problem predated that large-scale economic meltdown. And by all indicators, consumer debt will be a defining feature of middle-class families for years to come. The staples of middle-class life—going to college, buying a house, starting a small business—carry with them more financial risk than ever before, requiring more borrowing and new riskier forms of borrowing. This book reveals the people behind the statistics, looking closely at how people get to the point of serious financial distress, the hardships of dealing with overwhelming debt, and the difficulty of righting one's financial life. In telling the stories of financial failures, this book exposes an all-too-real part of middle-class life that is often lost in the success stories that dominate the American economic narrative. Authored by experts in several disciplines, including economics, law, political science, psychology, and sociology, Broke presents analyses from an original, proprietary data set of unprecedented scope and detail, the 2007 Consumer Bankruptcy Project. Topics include class status, home ownership, educational attainment, impacts of self-employment, gender differences, economic security, and the emotional costs of bankruptcy. The book makes judicious use of illustrations to present key findings and concludes with a discussion of the implications of the data for contemporary policy debates. Katherine Porter is Professor of Law at the University of California Irvine School of Law. In 2010-2011, she was the Robert Braucher Visiting Professor at Harvard Law School. She is an expert in consumer credit law and has testified several times before Congress. Her published research addresses mortgage servicing, financial education, and consumer bankruptcy. http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20202 http://www.sup.org/rss/book_rss.cgi?id=20202